Sunday, April 29, 2012

Xolos' 1-1 tie with Pumas ensures Tijuana No. 7 spot in playoffs

The Tijuana Xolos' 1-1 tie with the Pumas of the Autonomous National University of Mexico put the Xolos in the No. 7 spot in the playoffs. In a later game, Cruz Azul was left out of the playoffs when it was not able to beat América. Its 2-2 tie let the Chiapas Jaguares become the eighth and last team in the playoffs. If the Xolos had lost, and had Cruz Azul won, Cruz Azul would have made the playoffs and the Xolos would have been out.
Matchups in home-and-away series will be: Tijuana and Monterrey; Santos Laguna and Jaguares; Tigres and Monarcas; and América and Pachuca.
Had the Xolos not given up a late goal following a red card to defender Joshua Abrego, they would have played América. Announcers on Azteca America said having to play
Monterrey instead of América would be costly to the Xolos. We'll find out, but América has been a hot team of late. The Xolos tied América and beat Monterrey during the regular season.
Is is fitting that Pachuca, Jaguares and the Xolos all made the playoffs? An officiating error gave Pachuca a corner kick that allowed the Tuzos to beat the Xolos; an officiating error also negated a Jaguares goal that would have allowed Chiapas to beat the Xolos.

Team

Won

Tied

Lost

Points

Goals

Goals Allowed

Goal differential

1

Santos Laguna

11

3

3

36

33

18

+15

2

Monterrey Rayados

9

5

3

32

32

15

+17

3

América Aguilas

9

5

3

32

30

18

+12

4

Morelia Monarcas

9

4

4

31

25

18

+7

5

UANL Tigres

9

4

4

31

22

16

+8

6

Pachuca Tuzos

7

7

3

28

24

17

+7

7

Tijuana Xolos

7

7

3

28

18

11

+7

8

Chiapas Jaguares

8

3

6

27

26

20

+6

9

Cruz Azul (out of playoffs)

6

7

4

25

29

21

+8

Saturday, April 21, 2012

1-0 victory over San Luis Potosí appears to put Tijuana in playoffs

A second-half goal by Duvier Riascos off a backwards pass from José Sand gave the Tijuana Xolos a 1-0 victory over San Luis Potosí on Saturday, virtually assuring that the Xolos would make the playoffs during their first year in the first division.
Riascos scored at the 73:36 mark. The Xolos survived a scare when San Luis player Facundo Abel Pereyra's shot went over the goalpost at the 61:33 mark.
Battling for the final three playoff spots in the final week of the regular season are Tijuana, Pachuca, Cruz Azul and the Chiapas Jaguares. Pachuca lost a golden opportunity for a win when Monterrey's Humberto Suazo scored on a free kick three minutes into extra time to tie the game, 1-1, Saturday night.
The top eight teams make the playoffs, also known as La Liguilla. Tijuana is in with a tie or win on Sunday against Pumas, or if Pachuca, Cruz Azul or Chiapas do not win. The Xolos have two more points than Pachuca and three more than Cruz Azul and Chiapas; a win counts three points and a tie one point. Chiapas' 3-0 win Sunday over Pumas, however, now gives it the advantage in goal differential over Tijuana if Chiapas wins the final game of the regular season and Tijuana loses. Cruz Azul holds a similar tie-breaker against the Xolos.

Team

Won

Tied

Lost

Points

Goals

Goals Allowed

Goal differential

1

Santos Laguna

10

3

3

33

30

17

+13

2

América Aguilas

9

4

3

31

28

16

+12

3

Morelia Monarcas

9

4

3

31

25

17

+8

4

UANL Tigres

9

4

3

32

21

14

+7

5

Monterrey Rayados

8

5

3

29

29

15

+14

6

Tijuana Xolos

7

6

3

27

17

10

+7

7

Pachuca Tuzos

6

7

3

25

21

16

+5

8

Cruz Azul

6

6

4

24

27

19

+8

9

Chiapas Jaguares

7

3

6

24

25

20

+5

x

Sunday, April 15, 2012

0-0 tie with Chiapas increases Xolos' chances of making playoffs

A 0-0 tie against Chiapas prevented the Jaguares from catching up with the Tijuana Xolos in the standings on Friday night. This put the Xolos in good shape to make the playoffs this season; by the end of the weekend, the Xolos had advanced to fifth place. The first eight teams in the 18-team first division make the playoffs, also called La Liguilla.
Cruz Azul, as a result of its 3-0 victory over Toluca on Sunday, moved into a virtual tie for eighth place with Chiapas in the standings and likely knocked Toluca out of the playoffs. Both Cruz Azul and Chiapas are three points behind the Xolos and Pachuca. A victory counts three points, and a tie one. A fun representation of the Toluca-Cruz Azul game?
With two games to play,
there are essentially four teams playing for the final three spots in the postseason tournament: the Xolos, Pachuca, Cruz Azul and Jaguares. The Xolos and Pachuca both control their own destinies, and likely both are in if they win one more game. Jaguares likely will have to have one more point than Cruz Azul to be the last team in the playoffs, or go on a goal-scoring binge, because Cruz Azul has a 3-goal lead in goal differential.
Two more teams, Cruz Azul and Morelia, qualified for the playoffs over the weekend. The other teams that are in are defending champion Tigres, which also moved into first place in the standings; Santos Laguna, which fell out of first thanks to a 3-1 loss to América; and Monterrey.

Team

Won

Tied

Lost

Points

Goals

Goals Allowed

Goal differential

1

UANL Tigres

9

4

2

31

21

11

+10

2

Morelia Monarcas

9

3

3

30

24

16

+8

3

Santos Laguna

9

3

3

30

27

17

+10

4

Monterrey Rayados

8

4

3

28

28

14

+14

5

América Aguilas

8

4

3

28

25

14

+11

6

Tijuana Xolos

6

6

3

24

16

10

+6

7

Pachuca Tuzos

6

6

3

24

20

15

+5

8

Cruz Azul

5

6

4

21

22

17

+5

9

Chiapas Jaguares

6

3

6

21

22

20

+2

10

Toluca

5

3

7

18

20

24

-4

Important games that will determine who else gets in:

Weekend of April 21-22
Pachuca at Monterrey
Tijuana at San Luis
Estudiantes Tecos at Cruz Azul
Jaguares at Pumas Weekend of April 28-29
Monarcas at Jaguares
Chivas at Pachuca
Pumas at Tijuana
Cruz Azul at América

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Xolos in good position to make playoffs

8 teams will make up "La Liguilla" and Xolos have 5-point advantage over 9th place teams with 3 games to play; both 9th place teams lost this weekend

As a result of Tijuana's 2-1 victory over Atlante in Estadio Caliente on Saturday night, the Xolos are in a good position to make the playoffs, also known as "La Liguilla." The deciding goal was scored by Sweetwater High graduate Joe Corona. Game story. Playoff standings below.

The Xolos are doing it on defense, having given up a league-low 10 goals in 14 games, tied with the Tigres of the Autonomous University of Nuevo León.

There are likely only two teams, Cruz Azul and Toluca, that could come up with the points to knock the Xolos out of the playoffs. Fortunately for the Xolos, those two teams lost this weekend and also face each other next weekend. Both Cruz Azul and Toluca have 18 points, while the Xolos have 23. The Xolos control their own destiny: If they win two of their next three, they are in the playoffs for sure, and are virtually guaranteed to be in if they win one and tie one. They also could make the playoffs even if they lose their next three games if everything else fell into place. The Xolos are playing at a disadvantage of sorts as two of their next three games are away.
On Saturday, they travel to Chiapas to play the eighth-place Jaguares, who are three points, or one victory, behind the Xolos. The following week the Xolos travel to San Luis Potosí, which lost to Jaguares 3-2 Saturday, and finish at home in Tijuana against the Pumas of the Autonomous National University of Mexico. Toluca and Jaguares have two home games, while Cruz Azul has two away games.

Team

Won

Tied

Lost

Points

Goals

Goals Allowed

Goal differential

1

Santos Laguna

9

3

2

30

26

14

+12

2

Monterrey Rayados

8

4

2

28

28

13

+15

3

UANL Tigres

8

4

2

28

19

10

+9

4

Morelia Monarcas

8

3

3

27

22

15

+7

5

América Aguilas

7

4

3

25

22

13

+9

6

Pachuca Tuzos

6

6

2

24

21

13

+8

7

Tijuana Xolos

6

5

3

23

16

10

+6

8

Chiapas Jaguares

6

2

6

20

22

20

+2

9

Cruz Azul

4

6

4

18

19

17

+2

9

Toluca

5

3

6

18

20

21

-1

Important upcoming games to determine who will make it into the playoffs:Weekend of April 14-15
Monarcas at Pachuca
Xolos at Jaguares
Cruz Azul at Toluca
Santos Laguna at AméricaWeekend of April 21-22
Pachuca at Monterrey
Tijuana at San Luis
Estudiantes Tecos at Cruz Azul
Jaguares at Pumas
América at Puebla
Toluca at Querétaro
Weekend of April 28-29
Monarcas at Jaguares
Chivas at Pachuca
Pumas at Tijuana
San Luis at Toluca
Cruz Azul at América